Psychotherapists‐In‐Training Evaluate Their Personal Therapy: Results of a UK Survey

Abstract

SUMMARY. A national survey of the personal therapy experiences of UK Senior Registrars in Psychotherapy found that 87% reported their personal therapy had a moderate to very positive effect on both their work with patients and in their personal lives. Positive effects included increased self‐awareness (76%), increased self‐esteem (47%) and reduction in symptoms (43%). The most common primary goals for personal therapy were personal growth and the resolutions of personal problems. No trainees reported purely negative outcomes for their therapy but 38% reported some negative effects from their therapy. The main negative effects were psychological distress (29%) and marital or family stress (13%). These results are discussed in relation to previous research on personal therapy.

Effects of graduate clinicians' personal therapy on therapeutic alliance

“…(p. 200) As with any treatment, surveys on the effects of personal therapy have reported improvements in the personal lives of therapists, such as improved self-esteem, symptom reduction and increased self-awareness (Macaskill & Macaskill, 1992;Norcross, Strausser-Kirtland, & Missar, 1988;Pope & Since the inception of clinical practice, the idea that personal therapy for the therapist is a necessary part of training has been present. Freud (1937Freud ( /1964ut where and how is the poor wretch to acquire the ideal qualifi cation which he will need in this profession?…”

Trainee counselors’ experiences of receiving psychological help

“…Some therapists also point out that the experience of receiving psychological help is negative and may lead to experience depression, marriage and relational difficulties or to become very reflective. It is also stated that providing psychological help and vocational education together have important responsibilities in terms of financial and time construction, which constitute a stress factor (Macaskill & Macaskill, 1992). Macran et al (1999) emphasize that a therapist candidate needs to be aware of the benefits of this experience before going into such structuring and that managers need to be sure that it is worth it before they directed their employee to get psychological help.…”

“…Bazı terapistler de psikolojik yardım alma deneyimlerinin olumsuz olduğunu belirtmekte; depresyon, evlilik ve ilişkisel zorluklar yaşadıklarını, çok yansıtıcı hale geldiklerini ifade etmektedir. Ayrıca psikolojik yardımı ve mesleki eğitimi bir arada sunmanın, finansal açıdan ve zamanı yapılandırma açısından önemli sorumluluklar getirdiği, bunların da stres faktörü oluşturduğu belirtilmektedir (Macaskill & Macaskill, 1992). Macran vd.…”

Personal therapy in psychiatric training

“…Weintraub et al's(1999)USsurveyconfirmsincreasedbeliefinefficacy to be a common outcome of personal therapy also. Macaskill (1988) suggested that any differences inpersonal awareness and practical skill conferred by personal therapy are likely to be evident only intermittently, at times when particularly challenging situations put therapists under pressure to act immediately in clinically questionable ways.…”

“…An important caveat comes from surveys of trainees, indicating some professionally destabilising effects. These include personal and domestic distress (Macaskill & Macaskill, 1992) and interference with concurrent clinical work (Glass, 1986), particularly in the early stages of training. To minimise this disruption, it may be reasonable to defer other elements of training until personal therapy is already well underway.…”